How many real Christmas tree purchasers dislike the experience of trudging from Christmas tree lot to Christmas tree lot haggling over prices in inclement weather to purchase a “fresh” Christmas tree cut three to four weeks earlier? How many Christmas tree purchasers relish hauling a tree home on the top of their car and spending the rest of the year cleaning up the trail of needles leading from the garage into the house?
Many Christmas tree purchasers do not like this miserable ritual, but yet prefer a real Christmas tree to an artificial tree. They want a traditional Christmas with the aroma of a fresh Christmas tree wafting throughout their home during the Holiday Season and are willing to pay a slight premium to avoid the hassle and risks of buying from a tree lot.
Last year more than 28 million real Christmas trees were sold nationwide. However, online sales of real Christmas trees were but a small number of the total, approximately 400,000 to 500,000. While still a minor segment of the total, online sales of real Christmas trees are growing at between 25 to 50% annually.
There are many reasons why online purchases of real Christmas trees are rapidly gaining favor, not least of which is the convenience of a point and click purchase from the convenience of your home office. No price haggling, no blistery cold wind, no icy slush, no tying a tree to the roof of your car. Instead of investing all or part of Saturday or Sunday, in little more than 10-15 minutes you can purchase a real Christmas tree online.
A significant advantage of online purchases of real Christmas trees is the assurance of quality and freshness. Look for online retailers who will guarantee that all real Christmas trees will meet the USDA’s definition of premium or grade 1 Christmas trees. For a definition of premium and grade 1 trees, go to http://www.ams.usda.gov/standards/christtr.pdf
Most online retailers will cut and ship a purchased tree within 2-3 days of order with the resulting assurance that the tree is “fresh from the farm to your door”. The trees are cut, shaped, baled (wrapped to prevent broken branches during shipment), boxed in waxed-line cartons to further maintain freshness and then shipped straight to your door via DHL, FedX or UPS.
Some purchasers are concerned that real Christmas trees purchased online will be significantly more expensive than those purchased at a local tree lot. Online trees are usually comparable in price or slightly lower than tree lot prices. The differential is the shipping cost which can vary greatly depending on the size of the tree and the shipping distances. Some online retailers try to minimize the shipping costs by using suppliers located nearest to the customer.
Real Christmas trees purchased online, because of their freshness, are much safer than the less fresh Christmas trees purchased from big box retailers or tree lots.
Follow these simple steps to make your online purchase:
- Measure in advance the space where you would like to locate your real Christmas tree
- Go to your favorite Internet search engine (Google, Yahoo) and search the following key words: “real Christmas tree”, “fresh Christmas tree”, “premium Christmas tree” and “online Christmas tree”.
- Look for online retailers that provide the following: a variety of tree choices, guarantee freshness and quality (USDA premium or grade 1 Christmas trees), cut and ship within 2-3 days of purchase, provide online security for credit card purchases, provide online shipment tracking and provide online and 1-800 customer support and service.
- Once you have found your preferred tree from a reputable online retailer, point and click and your real Christmas tree will arrive within a few days.
Have a Merry Christmas and remember to protect the environment by recycling your Christmas tree.
Tannenbaum's Christmas Trees
Source: www.articlecity.com
